Anesthesiologists and other medical care providers are often required to intubate patients in order to provide an adequate airway for the patient during receipt of medical care. One manner of intubating a patient involves positioning an endotracheal tube into the patient's trachea.
Various implements can be used to assist in the process of positioning endotracheal tubes including, for example, Macintosh blades, Miller blades and intubation stylets. Macintosh blades generally comprise a curved-bladed implement and are typically used to lift a patient's vallecula out of the way providing the medical care provider a better view of the patient's airway. Miller blades generally comprise a straight-bladed implement and are typically used to trap the patient's epiglottis to better expose the patient's glottis and vocal cords. An intubation stylet may be inserted within the lumen of an endotracheal tube. The stylet may be used with or without other implements (e.g. Macintosh blades and/or Miller blades) to help guide the tube into the patient's trachea. After the endotracheal tube is properly positioned in the patient's airway, the stylet is removed from the lumen of the endotracheal tube allowing a ventilator or the like to be attached to the tube to ventilate the patient.
Despite the availability of various stylets and other implements, the insertion of endotracheal tubes can be difficult even for skilled providers, particularly in patient's having anterior tracheas and other conditions that make it challenging to guide the distal end of the endotracheal tube past the vocal cords and into the trachea. In some instances where an endotracheal tube cannot be properly positioned at all or within a timely enough manner, the patient may need to have a tracheotomy.